Chaos
chaos (with a lowercase c), previously known as Yeshua, is a playable character in the Xenosaga series, with an origin shrouded in mystery. He is first met on the Elsa as a member of the crew but described as being somewhat the protector of the ship. He is in fact the failsafe of the universe, the human incarnation of the power of Anima, and existed 6000 years ago on Lost Jerusalem (Earth) using the name Yeshua. At that time he was a disciple of Jesus Christ along with his partner Mary Magdalene. They attempted to save the universe at various times, until Mary gave up her life to divide his powers. Abilities He has the ability to destroy Gnosis with a touch. chaos can also survive for an indeterminate length of time within the vacuum of outer space. He is also capable of teleportation, an ability only possessed by the most powerful beings in the Xenosaga universe, such as the Testaments. This is demonstrated when he appears on the Elsa's bridge without the door opening (taking KOS-MOS off-guard) and when he disappears from a room while Andrew Cherenkov enters through the only door, reappearing further down in the Elsa's hangar. He also exhibits psychic powers and, according to various people, superhuman strength. The full extent of his power and abilities is unknown. chaos always wears gloves and his bodysuit as a method of restraining and suppressing his power, as his power emits from his skin, and from his hands (fingertips and palms) in particular. In Episode I his power stats rose as his gloves became thinner, with his most powerful set of gloves being tattered and full of holes, hence their name, "Holey Gloves", most likely a pun on Holy Gloves. chaos appears unaffected by physical aging and may be immortal, as is evidenced by the fact that he has the same physical appearance during the events that take place in the main story of Xenosaga, as well as during the time of the Miltian Conflict, Pied Piper, and even during the days of Jesus Christ. Personality chaos is very mysterious when he appears, but is kind, respectful, gentle and soft-spoken, with a philosophical wisdom and maturity. Most people, even complete strangers, express how calming and soothing his presence is, often opening up to him completely with their problems, as was the case with Allen Ridgeley, and Canaan who wishes in Episode III that chaos could be his creator. Rarely does he seem upset or stressed out, taking almost everything in stride, his easygoing and contemplative nature is such that Jr. even accuses him of being "so slow." while he is not without remorse when confronted with the death of his friends, allies, and former comrades-in-arms as seen with the death of Jin. Throughout the series, chaos often has a worried melancholic expression on his face as his allies make decisions. Sometimes these expression seem as though he wants to say something, perhaps to warn them, but he often doesn't. This may be chaos adhering to his usual stance to allowing humanity free will to make their choices, for better or worse. In addition, chaos has lived for thousands of years, meaning he's probably seen many dark, disturbing and gruesome events during his life. Although he often says that he doesn't like to fight, he nevertheless does so to protect others and to help his friends, most of his attack being based on the 'Holy' element. Mainly he seems to prefer the ether spells that use ice and aura/beam elements. This is the opposite of the majority of the party having fire or lightning attacks (especially Jr., Ziggy, and KOS-MOS). Background The power of Anima The power of Anima is paired with the Power of Animus possessed by Mary Magdalene, this power of Anima holds the function of failsafe for the universe, in order to destroy the lower domain of the universe if ever the lower domain is near collapse by itself and to destroy the higher domain in the process, it can also control to some extent the Relics of God. chaos, or rather at this time, Yeshua, is the human incarnation in the real number domain of the Universe of the power of Anima existing in the imaginary number domain from the lower plane of the universe. His existence is then similar to the one of Mary Magdalene, Wilhelm, the Testaments, and by extension to the existence of the Gnosis. Both he and Mary appeared simultaneously in their current form, never having been children. They are supposed to have appeared directly in the region near of Jerusalem due to their brown skin, unlike Wilhelm who would have appeared near Rome due to his white skin. Ancient Lost Jerusalem Era Yeshua (Yeshua, spelled יֵשׁוּעַ (Yēšûă‘) in Hebrew, is believed by some scholars and religious groups to be the Hebrew or Aramaic name for Jesus) and Mary on Earth in an extremely ancient era worked as disciple for the one known as the Messiah (Jesus Christ). They were all (Yeshua, Mary, the Messiah and their followers) persecuted by Wilhelm, who as Guardian of the Lower Domain, saw them and their power as a threat to the life of the lower domain. Indeed, Anima being the failsafe power which must destroy the lower domain, in order to protect the whole universe. Considering the Followers and Mary all had the ability to react with the Anima of Yeshua (also similar to the capacity of the Testament and most Party Member), Wilhelm feared the failsafe's activation, so he then persecuted the Messiah and all the others. Yeshua helped Mary and those following her in the construction of Zarathustra, and his Anima was the main energy used to start it in order to try to save the universe by accessing the Upper Domain of the universe. Yuriev would later attempt to act in a similar fashion, but for more selfish reasons. However, both Yeshua and Yuriev failed, and Zarathustra ended up falling into Wilhelm's hands while the situation for the universe got worse. Even though very little is known about his life from this time, he knew the previous incarnation of Shion Uzuki, who was called the Maiden of Mary, and the previous incarnation of the characters having a Shining Will and possibly some others. Yet, due to their actions, his Anima came near to activation, and in order to prevent the destruction of the lower domain by the power of Anima, Mary divided the Yeshua's power into 12 vessels, but doing this cost her life and her consciousness to be scattered across the U.M.N. Yeshua chose, with those who followed her, Rennes-le-Château to keep Mary's body intact within a coffin and to hide the vessels from Wilhelm. At this moment, Yeshua took on the identity of chaos. Modern Lost Jerusalem Era Little is known on what chaos did after those events. The only sure thing is that he also left Earth when humanity had to escape from it. It is known that Wilhelm controlled humanity since that time and apparently, chaos didn't have much way to oppose him without his powers. When Wilhelm went to Rennes-le-Château to take the Vessels of Anima, he was unable to take Mary's body due to the possible existence of a safe guardian, who wasn't there any more when Shion entered the place: it can be theorized that chaos spent most of his time at Rennes-le-Château and is the one who stopped Wilhelm from taking Mary's body, since he disagreed with the Eternal Recurrence Wilhelm was planning. ''Pied Piper'' In this episode, chaos helps Jan Sauer in the shadows. Miltian Conflict At some point, for unknown reasons of being in the service of the Galaxy Federation military, chaos rose to high-level special operations status and was sent on a mission during the Miltian Conflict by Lieutenant General Helmer to aid Canaan in retrieving the U.R.T.V.s and the Y-Data. During their mission, the U-TIC Organization activates the Song of Nephilim. Canaan starts to become affected by it, but he fights off being overcome by it. Nearby Federation Soldiers in A.M.W.S. are affected, and start attacking Canaan and chaos. Jin Uzuki arrives in time and aids them. Shortly after, Jin shows them to the U.R.T.V.'s location at Labyrinthos, headquarters of U-TIC. Margulis appears, and he, chaos and Jin fight. After the fight, Jin entrusts Canaan with information regarding the Miltian Conflict, which is also a fragment of the Y-Data. After Jin leaves something happens to Canaan (unknown if it affects chaos at all) and the information is inaccessible to him. After that is a mystery but after sometime passes they find two of the U.R.T.V.s. They are Rubedo who is carrying out a wounded Nigredo. They rescue them both but no other U.R.T.V.s are reported being saved. It is unknown if Albedo Piazzolla is rescued by them or not. No mention of them finding him is made so far. ''Xenosaga Episode I'' .]] At an unknown time after his military service to the Federation, chaos joined the Elsa Crew two years prior to the events of ''Episode I. He ensures the safety of the crew during their travels as protection against the Gnosis. In that respect, it could be said that chaos is ship security, as he certainly serves that function. But he also serves in many other ship tasks, such as several in-flight functions and the moving of cargo. Essentially, he is a jack-of-all-trades. In Episode I, he has little effect on the plot. ''Xenosaga Episode II'' ''Xenosaga Episode III'' At the end of Episode III, chaos rejected the Eternal Recurrence, deciding to trust in the wills of humanity to change the future. He realized his power might be used to save the universe with the help of human wills who wish for it. His final cryptic instructions to Shion and friends was to lead humankind back to Lost Jerusalem. He states that the key to saving the universe could be found on Lost Jerusalem, yet does not elaborate on what this means. Although chaos believes they will likely all meet again on Lost Jerusalem, given how long it would take to travel there, this may be hinting at future incarnations. After the awakened KOS-MOS restored his power to him, to slow the destruction of the universe and allow humanity more time to find Lost Jerusalem, chaos gathered the Gnosis (the rejecting wills of humans) into Nephilim and performed a dimensional shift to Lost Jerusalem. Although chaos believed he would disappear with the release of his power, his consciousness lived on, as the consciousnesses of the universe still desired his existence. He still remains as the failsafe of the universe, although his future form is unknown. After saving the Elsa by holding open one last U.M.N. gate to allow them to escape the shockwave of the dimensional shift, he is last heard speaking to KOS-MOS as she drifts through space. His last words: "I guess both you and I still exist in this world, after all. As long as people... as long as the universe desires it, we will continue to exist. We haven't finished what we have to do yet. So, until then, sleep well, KOS-MOS." Relationships Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene, the incarnation of Animus, is described as having being close to Yeshua when she was alive. There is many speculation on the nature of their relationship, the most common being that of a lover one, though few thinks it could be that of a sister/brother one. Nephilim mentions Mary being vital to chaos and Wilhelm is convinced that Yeshua's death is the last thing Mary wants to happen. They both followed the man known as the Messiah in ancient past, thinking his words were the best possible for humanity, somewhat risky since it activated fastly Anima due to the Apostle. After having failed with Zarathustra, Yeshua's power, when they became near to activate and to destroy the lower domain, were divided by Mary. As a result, she lost her powers and died after having done this. Yeshua chose Rennes-le-Château to protect her body and kept an eye on her body during his time on Lost Jerusalem. He immediately saw Mary in KOS-MOS the first time they met. In the animation it is hinted he is the one allowing to KOS-MOS to use her full power, Mary's Animus, to destroy the Gnosis when she is in blue eyed mode the first time. Right before she saves the Elsa from being burnt, she says to him in passing "Relinquish your pain, unto me", that chaos recognize as being Mary Magdalene's word. When Shion sees Mary in her coffins at Rennes-le-Château, chaos is the one guarding it once more. Wilhelm An enemy—though their connection cannot be confirmed, they know of each other, and Wilhelm refers to chaos as "Yeshua," a Hebrew name common a thousand years ago. Wilhelm throughout the games seeks to control or stop chaos's failsafe power from being used. chaos and Wilhelm disagree on how humanity will be saved. Wilhelm holds to the Eternal Recurrence, while chaos eventually sees the flaws of the continual recreation, the Gnosis being an example of this. chaos and Wilhelm do not desire each other's destruction but rather each others non-interference. Shion When chaos meets Shion on the bridge of the Elsa, he is immediately polite to her, Allen, and KOS-MOS, as he is with most people throughout the series. When asked by Matthews about what they should do with the passengers, he replied that they should ferry them to their destination, Second Miltia. After they were forced to strike down Cherenkov, he comforted the distraught Shion. Nephilim also implies that Shion is important to chaos in the Encephalon, though he does not respond. If this were true, it may be due to her connection to Mary. Battle chaos uses gloves and his powers in combat. His powers are usually ether-based and is able to fight physically. He has also been shown to have the element affection with aura and ice in Episode II. chaos is a jack of all trades. His stats are similar to his fellow ally, Jr., as both have the ability to attack, but not excelling at ether magic or physical. His techs in Episode I all have a reference to angels and heaven. He is the only party member to learn an ability over lvl 30, which he gains at lvl 50. This requires an ally to be KO to perform. Quotes * "Poor lost souls... may you be reborn again anew!" * "I won't let anyone die!" * "I guess there's no choice but to fight!" * "Please stand down. I don't want meaningless bloodshed!" * "This is no ordinary force! Everyone, be careful!" * "Come on everyone, we still have a long ways to go!" * "May all your souls rest in peace..." * "Is everyone okay?" * "Ugh... that was tougher than I expected..." * "I'm sorry... everyone..." * "Thanks... for the help..." * "Unleash some of thy powers!" *''"I believe everyone has at least one skill that they excel in over all others. It's something that defines who they are. Shion. What is it that defines you?"'' *''"Shion... the truth isn't always a pleasant thing to know."'' (comforting Shion after Cherenkov dies) *''"We're still here and none of us have turned into Gnosis. Perhaps we can take solace in that."'' (comforting Shion after Cherenkov dies) *''"The red horse carries war, and the black horse, famine. Upon those tiny backs, bear their great calamity."'' *''"The future isn't set in stone, with the power of your wills you can shape your future."'' * "Grant freedom to this soul bound by flesh!" * "Grant light to the suffering that spreads through the abyss!" * "Tired beings, wounded souls, feel my light of tranquility!" Trivia *Late in Xenogears’ second disc, there is a flashback scene that shows a number of Zeboim-era individuals who have the same outfit as chaos in Episode I. They also have the same hair color. *In official artwork, he is sometimes portrayed with six white angel wings. *His name is always deliberately written in the lowercase, this is a direct contrast to KOS-MOS's name which is always written in upper case, and is Greek for "Order." In other words, "chaos and ORDER". *One of his attacks in Episode III is "Beloved Gospel". *"Yeshua" is Hebrew for the name "Jesus." Gallery Xenosaga Episode I Chaos1.jpg|Concept art. Kosmos99292200210.png|Concept art. Chaos9299939.png|''Episode I'' art. ChaosBattle.gif|chaos wins a battle. ChaosShion.png|chaos comforting Shion. Chaos anime.png|''Xenosaga I & II''. C_chaos.jpg|''Xenosaga I & II''. 11a.jpg|''Xenosaga I & II''. Xenosaga: The Animation Chaosanime.png|chaos in the anime. KOSMOSchaos.png|chaos and KOS-MOS. Xenosaga Episode II Chaos92033030.png|''Episode II'' art. Chaos.jpg|''Episode II'' concept art. Uzukis.png|chaos, Jin and Shion. xenosaga82882811.png|''Episode II'' artwork. ChaosP.png|Portrait. 21.png|Canaan and chaos. Chaos2.jpg|''Episode II''. Encephelon.jpg|''Episode II''. Xenosaga Episode III ChaosConcept.jpg|Concept art. Chaos3.png|Concept art. C1.jpg|''Episode III''. C2.jpg|Lost Jerusalem. C3.jpg|Swimsuit. FJchaos.png|chaos and Nephilim. Vlcsnap-2011-04-19-16h41m15s202.png|Yeshua listening to Jesus. Vlcsnap-2011-04-19-16h41m34s155.png|Yeshua listening to Jesus. Ne3.png|chaos and Nephilim. ChaosWin.gif|chaos wins a battle. Win.gif|Victory posing. Category:Characters Category:Playable characters Category:Male characters Category:Mysterious characters